Affiliation:
1. Department of Pharmaceutics, Government College of Pharmacy, Karad, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Saidapur, Karad, Maharashtra, India.
Abstract
Ethosomes are elastic, phospholipid-based nanovesicles with a high concentration of ethanol (20-45%). Ethosomes exhibit desirable features as vesicular systems. As a result of their bilayer composition (aqueous and lipid), they exhibit improved bioavailability for both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs. Higher ethanol concentrations (30–45%) cause stearic stability, which allows the loaded medication to penetrate deeper into the stratum corneum, and deeper skin layers with a high transdermal flux. Due to the ease of preparation. non-irritancy, efficiency to encapsulate wide range of drug molecules with varying lipophilicity/hydrophilicity and higher stability than previously formulated other vesicular systems ethosomes are the optimal carriers for topical drug delivery. The use of ethosomal transporter opens up a variety of challenges and opportunities for researchers for future study and the creation of novel, superior treatments. The scope of this small review is to elaborate on the novel concept of ethosomes and to describe their methods of preparation, mechanism of penetration, composition, characterization, marketed products of ethosomes, patents and their applications.